Nokia Interim CEO: We Have Three Strong Businesses Remaining

The Nokia that remains after it sells its phone business to Microsoft will be a considerably smaller and lower-profile company.

It will hopefully be a more financially sound entity, as well, Nokia interim CEO Risto Siilasmaa told AllThingsD on Monday night in a telephone interview shortly after the deal was announced.

"We will continue to have three strong businesses," Siilasmaa said.

Nokia, which began by producing paper and rubber in the 1800s, is essentially exiting the mobile phone business that made it world-famous, selling both its Lumia smartphone business and its low-end mobile phone unit to Microsoft.

Remaining are its network-equipment business, its patent portfolio and its Here location-based services arm.

"Overall, we are very happy with the fact we will be able to support those businesses with a much stronger balance sheet," Siilasmaa said.

Nokia has been hit with continual bond-ratings downgrades and concerns about its long-term viability once the checks from Microsoft stopped coming. Under its previous deal with Microsoft, Redmond had been paying Nokia hundreds of millions of dollars in quarterly "platform support payments." However, the balance of payments was due to shift, with Nokia now owing more in minimum guaranteed royalties than it had coming in future payments from Microsoft.

Siilasmaa insisted that selling its namesake phone business to Microsoft was best for all of the company's stakeholders, including its 88,000 employees, 32,000 of whom are due to become Microsoft employees after the deal closes.

It will also immediately be a benefit for owners of Nokia stock, he said.

"The deal is immediately accretive to earnings," he said. "We believe we are making a very good choice for Nokia shareholders."

The deal, which requires regulatory approval and a nod from Nokia's shareholders, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014.

RELATED POSTS:

• Microsoft CEO Promises to Limit Nokia Phone Names to 10 Syllables or Less
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• Elop in July: It's "Hard to Understand the Rationale" for Selling Nokia's Devices Business
• Microsoft Is Getting Nokia's Phone Business for a Song
• Nokia Shares Rise, Microsoft Falls in Reaction to Deal
• So Much for BlackBerry's "Clear Shot" at Being No. 3 in the Smartphone Market
• Selling Nokia Was Hard Emotionally, But Right Thing to Do, Says Interim CEO
• Marko Ahtisaari, Nokia's Top Designer, To Leave Company in November
• Steve Ballmer on Why Buying Microsoft's Biggest Phone Partner Makes Sense
• Nokia Interim CEO: We Have Three Strong Businesses Remaining
• Barcelona Rendezvous, 50 Nokia Board Meetings Led to Microsoft Deal
• Microsoft's Nokia Deal By The Numbers
• Microsoft Confirms It Gets Less Than $10 Per Nokia Windows Phone Sold
• Stephen Elop Is Now Microsoft CEO Candidate to Beat
• Microsoft Wants to Keep Licensing Windows Phone to Others, Post-Nokia Deal
• Microsoft Explains the Rationale Behind the Nokia Deal
• Microsoft to Buy Nokia's Device Business in Deal Worth $7.17 Billion

Steve Ballmer on Why Buying Microsoft's Biggest Phone Partner Makes Sense

Given that Nokia was already putting all its smartphone eggs in the Windows basket, it's a logical question to ask how Microsoft believes it will gain an advantage by purchasing Nokia's phone business.

No surprise, since he did the deal: CEO Steve Ballmer thinks the business will be stronger.

In an interview with AllThingsD, Ballmer laid out three reasons why things will be different once Microsoft owns Nokia's phone business.

First, Ballmer said, as close as the two companies were, there were legal and logistical barriers to total cooperation. Each company had to temper its investment based on separate business needs.

"As long as we were on a model with two different companies ... there was always some kind of a boundary along which it was hard to innovate from a hardware/software perspective," Ballmer said. "It doesn't mean we didn't do it, but we know we can improve our agility."

Second, Ballmer noted that each company was separately trying to build its own brand - a duplicative effort that diffused impact and wasted money.

"Just think about the Nokia Lumia Windows Phone 1020, and you will that know we can make simpler, clearer messages to the market," Ballmer said, noting that Nokia accounts for 80 percent of all Windows Phones, although Microsoft still hopes others will continue to make it even after Microsoft takes over from Nokia.

Finally, Ballmer said that as two companies, Nokia and Microsoft had to make different choices about where and how much to invest.

"We know, as we scale, we need to invest behind this business," Ballmer said. "It simplifies the business decision-making and thinking having the economics be more unified."

Translating from this business-speak, buying Nokia's phone business gives Microsoft a greater business opportunity, if it can succeed. Microsoft noted in its case for why the deal makes sense that it currently gets less than $10 in revenue from each Nokia Windows Phone sold, as compared to the $40 or so in profit margins Nokia stands to make.

Of course, Nokia - and soon Microsoft - also has to build the phones, manage inventory, deal with carriers and more. Plus, there's still that pesky challenge of growing beyond single-digit market share.

"We're the No. 3 smartphone player," Ballmer said. "We have a long way to go, and we have a lot we want to do."

RELATED POSTS:

• Microsoft CEO Promises to Limit Nokia Phone Names to 10 Syllables or Less
• Samsung, HTC Mum on Any Interest in Windows Phone Post-Nokia
• Elop in July: It's "Hard to Understand the Rationale" for Selling Nokia's Devices Business
• Microsoft Is Getting Nokia's Phone Business for a Song
• Nokia Shares Rise, Microsoft Falls in Reaction to Deal
• So Much for BlackBerry's "Clear Shot" at Being No. 3 in the Smartphone Market
• Selling Nokia Was Hard Emotionally, But Right Thing to Do, Says Interim CEO
• Marko Ahtisaari, Nokia's Top Designer, To Leave Company in November
• Steve Ballmer on Why Buying Microsoft's Biggest Phone Partner Makes Sense
• Nokia Interim CEO: We Have Three Strong Businesses Remaining
• Barcelona Rendezvous, 50 Nokia Board Meetings Led to Microsoft Deal
• Microsoft's Nokia Deal By The Numbers
• Microsoft Confirms It Gets Less Than $10 Per Nokia Windows Phone Sold
• Stephen Elop Is Now Microsoft CEO Candidate to Beat
• Microsoft Wants to Keep Licensing Windows Phone to Others, Post-Nokia Deal
• Microsoft Explains the Rationale Behind the Nokia Deal
• Microsoft to Buy Nokia's Device Business in Deal Worth $7.17 Billion

Nokia Shares Rise, Microsoft Falls in Reaction to Deal

Shares of Nokia, the soon-to-be-ex-Finnish wireless phone giant, are rising significantly in reaction to the company's $7 billion deal to sell its devices business and license its wireless patents to U.S. software company Microsoft.

After the first hour of trading this morning, American Depository Receipts of Nokia had risen by $1.37, or more than 35 percent, to $5.26. Before the announcement of today's deal, the shares had fallen by more than one percent this year.

Meanwhile, shares of Microsoft fell by more than five percent in reaction to news of the deal. By 10:30 am ET, Microsoft shares had fallen by $1.81 to $31.59. The move mostly erased the benefits of a rally in Microsoft shares that came on Aug. 23, after CEO Steve Ballmer announced plans to retire from the company. Prior to today's news, the shares had risen by more than 25 percent this year.

RELATED POSTS:

• Microsoft CEO Promises to Limit Nokia Phone Names to 10 Syllables or Less
• Samsung, HTC Mum on Any Interest in Windows Phone Post-Nokia
• Elop in July: It's "Hard to Understand the Rationale" for Selling Nokia's Devices Business
• Microsoft Is Getting Nokia's Phone Business for a Song
• Nokia Shares Rise, Microsoft Falls in Reaction to Deal
• So Much for BlackBerry's "Clear Shot" at Being No. 3 in the Smartphone Market
• Selling Nokia Was Hard Emotionally, But Right Thing to Do, Says Interim CEO
• Marko Ahtisaari, Nokia's Top Designer, To Leave Company in November
• Steve Ballmer on Why Buying Microsoft's Biggest Phone Partner Makes Sense
• Nokia Interim CEO: We Have Three Strong Businesses Remaining
• Barcelona Rendezvous, 50 Nokia Board Meetings Led to Microsoft Deal
• Microsoft's Nokia Deal By The Numbers
• Microsoft Confirms It Gets Less Than $10 Per Nokia Windows Phone Sold
• Stephen Elop Is Now Microsoft CEO Candidate to Beat
• Microsoft Wants to Keep Licensing Windows Phone to Others, Post-Nokia Deal
• Microsoft Explains the Rationale Behind the Nokia Deal
• Microsoft to Buy Nokia's Device Business in Deal Worth $7.17 Billion

Broadcom Pays $164 Million for Renesas 4G Wireless Chip Unit

Wireless chipmaker Broadcom said today that it will pay $164 million to buy the LTE wireless chip assets of Japan's Renesas Electronics.

Under terms of the deal, a team of chip designers based in Finland, the United Kingdom and India will become Broadcom employees, though the companies aren't yet saying how many people are involved. Bob Rango, Broadcom's executive VP and general manager of its mobile and wireless group, said the group of employees is largely composed of a batch of ex-Nokia chip designers who did some of the early work on setting 4G wireless standards. "This is a very experienced group of designers, many of whom were at the table when the 4G standards were set," he told me.

Broadcom had previously been seen as lagging rivals like Qualcomm in the development of chips for 4G phones.

Renesas had announced that it would stop developing its 4G wireless in June. Rango said the chips are already certified for use by several carriers, including AT&T in the U.S.; Vodafone, Orange and EE in the U.K.; and NTT DoCoMo in Japan.

Broadcom said the deal will cut into non-GAAP earnings to the tune of 12 cents a share when Broadcom reports its results of the quarter ending Dec. 31. It also expects the acquisition will cut into its fiscal 2014 earnings by 10 cents to 15 cents on a non-GAAP basis, but that it will be accretive to earnings starting with the 2015 fiscal year.

The company also boosted its outlook for the quarter ending Sept. 30, saying it now expects to report revenue in the range of $2.075 billion to $2.175 billion, and for gross margins to rise as much as 10 basis points.

Broadcom shares rose in premarket trading by more than one percent, to $25.51 per share.

Huawei Doesn't Want BlackBerry

Here's one company that BlackBerry need not consider as it works to narrow down the list of parties interested in buying all or part of its business: Huawei.

Asked if Huawei might consider acquiring BlackBerry or another handset maker to bolster that business, board member Chen Lifang said the company is simply not interested.

"No, we have not considered (an acquisition)," she told reporters in London, according to Reuters. "We want to rely on ourselves."

Which makes sense. Huawei has done very well for itself pursuing that strategy. Today, it's the third-largest manufacturer of smartphones by volume, after Samsung and Apple. And it has claimed that title by building devices for Google's Android operating system. So why would it bother with BlackBerry? It clearly doesn't need it, or the company's new BlackBerry 10 platform, which seems to have lost its bid for third place in the smartphone OS wars to Microsoft.

As Lifang said, "In manufacturing mobile phones, we have made very good progress."

Barra Takes Center Stage at Xiaomi Product Launch

Chinese phone maker Xiaomi Inc. has become famous in China because of its blowout product releases, and Thursday's introduction of the company's new smartphone and smart television didn't disappoint.

Amid a carnival-like atmosphere, the phone company's devoted fans - some adorned with glow sticks - overflowed into the aisles as Xiaomi founder and Chief Executive Lei Jun described in detail the specs of the company's two new products to peals of applause.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

LG G2 Coming to T-Mobile, Verizon This Month

LG's newest flagship device finally has a U.S. release date - two, actually. Verizon will be the first to offer the LG G2 when it goes on sale Sept. 12 for $200 with a two-year contract. Meanwhile, T-Mobile is taking preorders for the smartphone today, with expected availability on Sept. 18. The cost is $100 down and 24 equal payments of $21. Introduced in August, the G2 is LG's latest effort to make a dent in the U.S. market; it features a 5.2-inch HD touchscreen and 13-megapixel camera. AT&T and Sprint are also expected to offer the device.

Apple Won't Introduce New Apple TV Box Next Week, Will Upgrade Software

There are very, very good odds you're going to hear about new iPhones at Apple's event next Tuesday.

But if you're looking for a new Apple TV, you're going to be disappointed.

Despite speculation about new Apple TV hardware on the way, Apple won't be unveiling any new boxes next week, according to people familiar with the company's plans.

That said, the company will be tweaking the software inside its Web TV box. Apple has already said that it will be bringing its new iTunes Radio service to Apple TV. And it has been adding new content partners, including Disney and HBO, throughout the summer.

Expect to hear about more changes next week.

Sources said that one new feature in the works will let people who've bought content from Apple play that stuff on other users' Apple TVs, via Apple's Airplay system and Apple's server. So if you bought a TV show or movie from Apple's iTunes store, you could watch it at a friend's house by calling it up on your iPhone and telling your friend's Apple TV to start streaming it. (The files wouldn't need to be stored on your iPhone or iPad)

You could have previously accomplished this by getting your friend to log out of their Apple TV box and then logging in with your own credentials. But that's awfully cumbersome - particularly with Apple's minimalist Apple TV remote. And you can already do a variation on this, though not as elegantly, with some Apple TV apps like HBO Go.

But if this makes it that much easier to watch "Pain and Gain" with your pals, then that's a good thing. And if that makes you less inclined to buy a $35 Google Chromecast and treat that as your Web TV device, then that's good for Apple.

No comment from Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr.

With $50M Boost, Silent Circle Aims Blackphone At Enterprise Security

Kochava Acquires InferSystems For Mobile Ad Optimization

Nvidia's Project Logan Aims to Bring High-End Desktop Graphics to Mobile Devices

In recent years, mobile devices have come a long way in being able to pull off the kind of computing feats once reserved for desktops and laptops.

Further evidence will come on Wednesday as Nvidia starts showing off Project Logan, the company's first mobile chips that use the same graphics engine the chipmaker has used on the PC.

Nvidia said the effort, still in its early stages, will reach the product stage in the first half of next year as part of the company's next-generation Tegra chip.

"We've been working on this for years to get the convergence," Nvidia senior VP Dan Vivoli said in an interview. The company just got back the initial test chips running the new engine, and decided to show off a prototype at the graphics industry's Siggraph convention, which takes place this week.

Nvidia said the new mobile graphics engine is powerful enough to do one of the company's most intensive demos - real-time rendering of a detailed human face. The company previously showed a demo of "Ira" using its high-end workstation graphics chip.

Now it has done an updated version of Ira, using some of the early silicon for Project Logan. It's not quite the same demo, with the mobile version offering somewhat slower frame rate, with a lower resolution.

"Ira is the most impressive graphics I've ever seen in real time," Vivoli said. "The fact we can do a version of Ira that runs on a mobile platform blows me away."

Still Playing Catch-Up on Mobile, Intel Takes Aim at Wearables

Despite having a tough time getting its chips into phones and tablets, Intel is setting its sights on not only doing better than that market, but also on getting its chips into even lower-power devices.

At its developer conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, Intel revealed its smallest-ever chip, known as Quark, designed to go into wearable computers and even products that are swallowed or disposable.

"We want to participate in all segments of computing," Intel's Renee James said on Monday. "We really mean everywhere."

The Quark chips, now sampling, are aimed at a wide range of everyday objects that are expected to gain Internet connections in the coming years. Products using Quark will hit the market next year, James said, adding that the chip is five times smaller than today's Atom processors, and 10 times as power-efficient.

But even as it eyes this new market, Intel is still playing catch-up in the market for phones and tablets - a market dominated by Qualcomm and a host of less well-known competitors including MediaTek and others. However, James said, Intel is making progress in both phones and tablets.

On the tablet side, Intel said that device makers are ready with the first products based on Bay Trail, a new version of its Atom processor based on a new generation of manufacturing technology and designed from the ground up to run on both Windows and Android devices. At one point, Intel had planned Bay Trail for a 2014 introduction, but the company decided that it could not afford to wait that long.

Intel has been placing special emphasis on developing expertise around Android, with James noting that the team devoted to that operating system is now equal to the one focused on Android. On the phone side, Intel is expected to showcase new designs from existing partners such as Lenovo, as well as some from newly acquired customers.

The chipmaker will also use the developer conference to show the first machines running chips (code-named Broad Trail) from Intel's next-generation 14-nanometer process. In addition, Intel is announcing a previously undisclosed version of its Haswell chip that can deliver the same performance as today's Core i5 processors and yet run in low-power machines without a fan.

Mobile Messaging App Pinnatta Raises $1.5 Million

Pinnatta, a mobile messaging app startup, announced on Wednesday that it raised a $1.5 million Series A round of funding. The app, which emphasizes the multimedia aspect of mobile messaging, raised the new round from Greek firms Odyssey Venture Partners and PJ Tech Catalyst. The new funds bring the startup's total amount raised to $2.2 million.

Microsoft Wants to Buy Your Old iPad

Own an old iPad that no longer sees much use? Microsoft's happy to take it off your hands. The company recently began running a new promotion, offering Microsoft Store gift cards in exchange for "gently used" iPads. If you've got an iPad 2, 3, or 4 that meets that criteria, Microsoft will give you a minimum of $200 in store credit which you can spend on one of its Surface tablets or any other product available through the Microsoft Store.

Chair Entertainment Founder: "I Cannot Wait" for Physical Controllers for iPhones

At Apple's iPhone 5c/5s event on Tuesday, Chair Entertainment co-founder and creative director Donald Mustard debuted Infinity Blade 3, the newest game in the popular iOS sword-fighting series. Naturally, he's making the rounds this week to talk about the new game and how it takes advantage of the iPhone's hardware ... but that's not stopping him from hinting at more to come.

Mustard characterized Infinity Blade 3 as a "statement" of the power of touchscreen design, saying the series "spawned a whole new genre of game." However, absent from the iPhone event this week was an update on how iOS 7 will support physical game controller peripherals, one of the features mentioned at this year's WWDC keynote.

Mustard said he's excited for that eventuality.

"I cannot wait for the day when we can make a mobile game that's supported by a more traditional controller," he said.

He said fans have asked him when Chair would make a touchscreen version of one of its pre-Infinity Blade games, Shadow Complex. The answer: never!

"Shadow Complex wouldn't be good with touchscreen controls," Mustard said, adding that Infinity Blade would not work as well on Xbox. If Chair makes a mobile game for a physical controller peripheral, he said, it "would want to design the experience from the ground up."

It would also be possible to have a mobile game that combines both forms of control, he mused.

In the meantime, though, Infinity Blade 3 at least looked good in Mustard's demo. The battle he showed off on the iPhone 5s featured an imposing and smoothly animated dragon, which was far larger than the game series' previous bosses. Although the dragon will look best on the 5s, it and other animations in the game will still look "awesome" on the iPhone 4, Mustard said, calling the latter device "still pretty damn powerful."

IB3 will cost $6.99 when it goes on sale for iOS devices on Sept. 20, timed to the launch of the 5c and 5s.

Attention, San Francisco: Uber Is Chauffeuring the Tamale Lady Tonight to Deliver Free Tamales On Demand

While AllThingsD generally abstains from writing about Uber's myriad food delivery stunts, here's a fun one that may concern our readers who happen to be out enjoying the mild San Francisco weather tonight.

In hyper-hyperlocal news, ride-hailing service Uber is underwriting free on-demand tamales from San Francisco's famous Tamale Lady, Virginia Ramos, this evening.

Ramos will be chauffeured around town in an UberSUV, delivering tamales and hugs to anyone who can get through to make the request from the Mission and the Lower Haight neighborhoods.

A San Francisco institution and a friendly and recognizable face to many who enjoy the city's nightlife, Ramos was blocked in June from selling her tamales to hipsters and hippies and everyone else in San Francisco because she had been cooking them in an unlicensed kitchen.

Prior to that, she had been pushing her cart from bar to bar for some 20 years, selling homemade late-night snacks for $4, inspiring bumper stickers and nearly 350 Yelp reviews.

Now Ramos is trying to open a brick-and-mortar tamale shop, and has launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise $50,000.

The tamales start at 8 pm PT tonight and go till they run out. Uber warns, "There's only one Virginia, so if you see a grayed-out icon and can't get tamales right away, please keep trying."

HTC Confirms Job Cuts at U.S. Operations

Struggling Taiwanese phone maker HTC cut more than two dozen jobs at its U.S. offices on Friday.

The company said in a statement that the cuts were "a decisive action by HTC Corp (US) to streamline and optimize our organization and improve efficiencies after several years of aggressive growth."

HTC didn't offer details on the cuts or provide a specific number, but a source familiar with the situation said that about 30 positions were eliminated. No executives left, nor was there any significant shift in the types or amount of work being done in the U.S., according to an HTC representative.

"This is a hard decision that has direct impact on people who have contributed to the growth HTC has experienced the past several years," HTC said in its statement. "However, to achieve our long-term goals as a business and return maximum value to our shareholders, this is a necessary step to drive ongoing innovation."

After several years of strong growth, HTC has been trying to rebound from what has been a steep dropoff in sales of its smartphones. The company has also faced some turmoil at the corporate level, including the departure of several top executives.

As part of the turnaround push, HTC recently launched a new ad campaign starring Robert Downey Jr.

The job cuts were reported earlier by The Verge.

Apple's New Ad Grabs One of Rock's Best Songs

There's a new Apple ad. It's for the iPhone 5c. No need to say much.

But since you are still here, here's the source file for the ad's soundtrack, via Sleigh Bells' 2010 "Rill Rill":

Still here? All right! Now things get really good, because you get to hear the source file for "Rill Rill," courtesy of Funkadelic. For some reason, this 1971 song got renewed life in the last few years.* Which is great, because it's one of the best songs ever:

Ah. Okay. Denouement time. Here's the ad Apple ran another time it took a thing that was popular and made it available in different colors:

* Probably because of Sleigh Bells, I guess? But it showed up on a lot of TV and movie soundtracks.

SAP Ties Up With AT&T to Help Ease Business App Creation

SAP and AT&T announced plans to broadly offer the German software company's suite of mobile app creation, security and mobile management software. AT&T said that SAP's software will be made available to its business customers starting in the fourth quarter.

Startup Looks to Bring Kinect-Like Camera to the iPad (Video)

Occipital, a company best known for an app that lets users take panoramic photos from their phone, is looking to get into hardware.

On Tuesday, Occipital is announcing plans for Structure Sensor, a 3-D camera that brings Kinect-style depth sensing abilities to the iPad and other mobile devices. Attaching such a camera to a phone or tablet paves the way for use in other contexts, including object scanning and augmented reality.

Although Occipital is showing off the sensor on Tuesday, it won't be ready for mainstream consumers until sometime in the middle of next year. The company is launching the product first for developers who order the device on Kickstarter. Doing so, said Occipital CEO Jeff Powers, will get the device into production quicker.

"We really wanted to get feedback from the world," Powers told AllThingsD. "We wanted to also be the first to do this. There's something about being the first to bring the sensor."

Getting a consumer-ready product with three or four fully functioning apps would have meant waiting another year or more. Kickstarter backers willing to pay $500 for a developer kit will get a hand-assembled beta version by this December, while those who pay $349 can get a developer unit around February.

The Structure Sensor is designed to fit directly onto an iPad to link up with its camera, but uses Bluetooth so it could be connected with other phones and tablets. Backers who pay $349 get to choose either an iPad or non-iPad version, while those paying $379 or more will get both attachment options.

The hope is that the developers will not only serve as early enthusiast customers, but also help create the killer apps that will make the Structure Sensor worth it for consumers.

Occipital, which managed to cram PrimeSense's full-size sensor into a mobile device, is likely to face significant competition in the market for mobile-compatible 3-D cameras. Intel talked at last week's developer conference about including 3-D cameras into future Ultrabooks, while imaging-sensor maker PrimeSense has its own Capri sensor that is designed to go into smaller devices.

Powers said that Occipital knows it is a small company likely to bump up against bigger competitors. But he said being small offers some advantages, too.

"We don't have to sell five million of these devices to succeed," Powers said.

Here's a video of the Structure Sensor in action: